The U.S. government on Monday began accepting requests from individuals and organizations seeking to help Ukrainians fleeing the war in Ukraine to come to the U.S. by launching an online portal for potential sponsors.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the private sponsorship initiative last week, presenting it as the main mechanism through which the US will achieve that of President Biden commitment to receive up to 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by the Russian military invasion of their homeland.
On Monday, DHS posted a page on its website for U.S. citizens and groups who have identified overseas Ukrainians who want to sponsor financially. The online portal includes a link to the application form that potential sponsors can submit to demonstrate that they have the financial means to support Ukrainians who want to enter the country.
Ukrainians hoping to come to the United States will not be able to apply directly for the sponsorship program, called Uniting for Ukraine. The application process can only be initiated by potential sponsors in the US
If potential sponsors pass background checks and DHS approves their sponsorship requests, the Ukrainians they have identified will be able to enter the U.S. as long as they meet certain requirements, such as safety tests and vaccination against contagious diseases.
Ukrainians who are allowed to enter the U.S. under the sponsorship initiative will not be resettled through the refugee program, DHS said last week. Instead, they will be granted humanitarian parole, which will allow them to live and work in the United States for at least two years. Parole will not make them eligible for permanent U.S. status.
More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces launched a military offensive against the country in late February, causing the largest refugee exodus since World War II, according to UN statistics. United.
U.S. officials have said that the vast majority of war-displaced Ukrainians will choose to stay in the countries closest to Ukraine, and that Ukrainians who want to come to the United States generally seek temporary refuge, not permanent resettlement.
That determination, government officials told reporters last week, prompted the U.S. government to use parole authority, which officials can use to temporarily admit immigrants who would not otherwise have permission to serve. enter the US, such as a visa.
Government officials said the private sponsorship program was also created in part to close one irregular route Thousands of Ukrainians have used it in recent months to enter the U.S. on the border with Mexico after trips on several flights from Eastern Europe.
In the last three months, US border officials have prosecuted 15,000 Ukrainians who did not have valid travel documents, according to a senior US official. In March, a record 3,274 Ukrainians were prosecuted along the southern border, most at a port of entry in Southern California, DHS. show the numbers.
In early March, U.S. border authorities were directed consider allowing undocumented Ukrainians to enter the country with humanitarian exemptions under an emergency rule known as Title 42 which has prevented other migrants from seeking asylum in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the Biden administration announced last week that as of Monday, U.S. border authorities will no longer allow Ukrainians to enter the country if they do not have valid travel documents. Instead, officials said, these Ukrainians will receive orders to participate in the sponsorship program Uniting for Ukraine.
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- Immigration
- Ukraine
- refugee
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